Tennis bag



Oct. 23, 1956 w. s. HAYNES J TENNIS BAG Filed Feb. 2, 1954 INVENTOR. I Wazizp 5.110 116 A ORNEYS United States Patent TENNIS BAG Walter S. Haynes, New York, N. Y., assignor to Abercrombie & Fitch Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York 7 Application February 2, 1954, Serial No. 407,630

2 Claims. 01. 150-52) My invention relates to a tennis bag for carrying one or more rackets and tennis balls.

It is an object of the invention to provide a tennis bag in which rackets and balls may be carried in very compact and secure fashion.

It is another object to provide a tennis bag in which a racket or rackets may be held quite firmly in place by a plurality of tennis balls housed adjacent the racket handle.

Another object is to provide a tennis bag provided with independent compartments for a plurality of tennis rackets and an independent compartment for tennis balls.

Other objects and various features of novelty and invention will be hereinafter pointed out or will become apparent to those skilled in the art.

Briefly stated, in a preferred form of the invention I provide a bag or container for receiving one or more tennis rackets. The bag is, preferably, of a length equal to the length of a racket and of a width about equal to the greatest width of a racket. There may be separate compartments for separate rackets and there may be one or more openings for inserting and removing them. I have provided ball pocket means for holding balls at opposite sides of a racket handle so that the handle will be held or housed between tennis balls on opposite sides thereof, and thus positioned in the bag. Closure means serve to close the ball pockets and the opening for rackets and when open permit introduction and removal of the balls and rackets.

In the drawings, which show, for illustrative purposes only, a preferred form of the invention:

Fig. 1 is an isometric view of a tennis bag illustrating features of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view similar to Fig. 1 illustrating the closure flap for the tennis rackets, in open position;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken substantially in the plane of line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken substantially in the plane of the line 44 of Fig. l; and

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken substantially in the plane of the line 55 of Fig. 1.

In said drawings, the bag generally is designated 5 and is provided with an opening for the insertion of one or more tennis rackets. In the form shown, the entire lateral side at the top is detachable from the remainder of the bag along the line 7. The entire top side is in effect a detachable flap portion designated 6. Thus, when the flap 6 is opened along the line 7, as shown in Fig. 2, there is a substantial opening into which a tennis racket may be inserted. The bag is of such length that the handle 8 of the racket reaches the bottom of the bag, as shown particularly in Fig. 3.

In the preferred form, the bag is of sufficient size to receive a pair of rackets, and I prefer to have the rackets housed in separate compartments. Therefore, I preferably provide a partition 9 about centrally of the bag, as shown particularly in Figs. 2, 3 and 5. This partition is preferably secured to the bag along both sides and 2,767,758 Patented Oct. 23, 1956 preferably at the bottom. The top, as indicated at 10, is preferably free of the bag, so that, when the flap 6 is open, the rear tennis racket 11 may be inserted from the top. Thus, two rackets may be housed in the bag in separate compartments, so as to prevent chafing, one by the other. As has been heretofore indicated, the bag is preferably of a width equal to the greatest of the racket, so that the racket or rackets will beheld snugly without much shucking sidewise.

When the flap 6 is closed and secured by suitable means, such as slide fastener means 12, the rackets will be very securely housed in the case and protected from the elements, particularly when the bag is formed of material such as moisture resistant fabric or the like.

In addition to housing one or more rackets, I preferably provide means for carrying a plurality of tennis balls in the same case or bag. Ball pocket means will serve to house the balls preferably on opposite sides of the racket handles, as illustrated in Fig. 5. The ball pocket means may consist of one or more folds or pocket-like pieces of fabric secured to the bag, preferably at the outside corners 13-13. Thus, tennis balls 14, 15, in the pocket means will be held against movement too far outwardly and will tend to move toward the center and in effect hug the racket handles between them. In the form shown, the ball pocket means has been shown as being formed as two entirely separate pockets 16, 17, instead of as a single pocket, and the inner sides of the pocket are secured to the front of the bag, as at 18. The front of the bag has openings, closed as by means of slide fastener means 1919, so that, when the openings are not closed, balls may be readily inserted or removed. When the pockets are closed the balls will be adequately protected from the elements, and will at the same time serve to snugly hold the racket handles between them and thus prevent shucking or sidewise movement of the handles in the case. The ball pockets are preferably secured to the case at the top about along the line 20 and at the bottom edge 21. Thus, the pockets are of a length to hold several balls each, so that an adequate supply of balls may be carried.

If desired, a shoulder strap 22 may be provided for shoulder carrying of the bag and a handle 23 may be provided for hand carrying.

It will be seen that I have provided a bag which may be formed of water resistant fabric, or any other suitable material, and which will adequately house one or more tennis rackets and a plurality of tennis balls. The rackets may be made accessible independently of the balls and the balls may be accessible independently of the rackets. The balls will be securely housed, as will the rackets, and the balls and rackets will support each other so as to prevent shucking of the racket handles. Since the balls are more or less the size of the two racket handles combined, there need be no bulges or proturberances on the bag.

While the invention has been described in considerable detail and a preferred form illustrated, it is to be understood that various changes and modifications may be made within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A tennis bag comprising a bag-like container of a width about equal to the width of a tennis racket and a length about equal to the length of a racket, said container having an opening extending across the top and down the sides to form a closure flap, said opening serving to permit insertion of a racket, a lateral partition in said container free of the container at the top to permit insertion of a racket through said opening and behind said partition, slide fastener means for securing said flap to the remainder of said container and closing said opening, means providing a pair of spaced longitudinally extending ball pockets in the lower part of said container to hold tennis balls at opposite sides of racket handles in said container and position the same therein, the wall of said container being provided with a pair of longitudinally extending openings to said ball pockets, slide fastener means to close said latter openings, and handle means to assist in carrying said tennis bag.

2. A tennis bag comprising a bag-like container of a width about equal to the width of a tennis racket and a length about equal to the length of a tennis racket, said container having an opening across the top to permit the insertion of a tennis racket, the walls of said container adjacent said opening having means for closing said opening, a partition member within said container secured along the sides and extending substantially the length of said container, said partition being free of the top of said container whereby a pair of rackets may be inserted through said opening in the top of said container and be separated by said partition, means providing a pair of spaced longitudinally extending ball pockets in the lower part of said container to hold balls at opposite sides of racket handles in said container to position the handles in the container, the wall of said container being provided with a pair of openings to said ball pockets, and fastener means to close said latter openings.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,555,035 Stevens Sept. 29, 1925 2,533,850 Syracuse Dec. 12, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 14,530 Great Britain Nov. 26, 1885 170,232 Great Britain Oct. 20, 1921 

